Tony Nolan, the mentor to celebrity preacher Clayton Jennings, who requested prayer for Jennings in the self-described evangelist’s “Confessions” video admitting to sexual indescretions while in ministry, has announced that Jennings has ended the “repentance and renewal process” with him and has decided to use secular damage control services instead. Jennings has also removed the video featuring Nolan from his social media pages.

“To update previous communication, with [a] heavy heart, I inform you Clayton Jennings has chosen to end the repentance/renewal process with me,” Nolan, an evangelist and teaching pastor at Freedom Church in Acworth, Georgia, posted publicly to Twitter and Instagram last week.

He explained that Jennings decided that it wasn’t necessary to undergo a repentance and restoration process because he already had confessed to God, and concluded that the only assistance he needed was in regard to the fallout in the media.

Nolan

“Weeks into the repentance journey, Clayton informed me he had secured the services of a secular team to advise him. He asked me if he could follow their advice, yet still be in process with me. I said no, he’d have to choose one or the other, because it’s not in keeping with the original process,” Nolan wrote. “He then asked for 24 hrs to decide.”

“Upon calling back, he informed me that he had already privately confessed to God about these sexual sins that occurred during his public preaching ministry and he really did not need the process after all, and just needs the secular team to navigate from the media fallout,” he explained.

Christian News Network had reached out to Jennings’ elders at Harbour Shores Church in Cicero, Indiana for clarification on matters—including the counseling process—prior to the announcement, but received an inadvertent message from Jennings’ father, Don Jennings, characterizing those who would ask questions on the issue as being “godless” and “set on destruction.”

Clayton Jennings’ elders had confirmed last month that they revoked his ministerial credentials.

As previously reported, Jennings, who had been in the midst of promoting Tim Tebow’s new book “Shaken,” released a spoken word confession on Nov. 13, which had obtained nearly 200,000 views before he took it down this month.

“I never claimed to be perfect and I never said I was sinless. Presenting you with a fake facade of greatness is never why I got in this,” he said in the video. “I want you to know this: I’ve sinned—a lot.”

“I could tell you stories of my past sin, but I wouldn’t know when to stop. I had sex before marriage and I broke a lot of hearts. And that’s not even the worst part. Sometimes it was during seasons of ministry,” Jennings admitted. “I led some girls on, and there were text messages of sex and sin.”

His confession came in the middle of several women—six in all—coming forward to state that Jennings had manipulated them into sexual behavior. Two of the women, who released their stories here and here, claimed that Jennings gave them alcohol before becoming sexually agressive, and one said that Jennings told her to take the morning-after pill because “his entire ministry would be ruined if I were to get pregnant.”

They both asserted that Jennings asked for naked photos, and lied to them—claiming he was dying or his father was ill—as a means to abruptly break contact after having sexual relations and being assured spiritually that their physical contact was okay.

Jennings has said that while some of the women’s details are false, he does not wish to elaborate on the matter.

Christian News Network reached out to to Jennings last month after reviewing the evidence and speaking with his father, who advised that his son had come to him to confess and that he believed he was genuinely repentant. However, he said that he had been told by his son that he had only committed sin with one woman—that he had met with the woman, her mother and Jennings—and wasn’t aware of anyone else.

However, weeks later, other women came forward to state that Jennings had also wooed them into sexual sin, and Jennings’ soon-coming video confession acknowledged that he “broke a lot of hearts” and led “some girls on”—plural.

Prior to releasing the video, Jennings confirmed that he had sinned, but would not affirm that the matter involved multiple women. He said that he “would rather not talk about the allegations at this time” as he was focused on obtaining “counseling for past sins.”

Jennings had also advised that he had decided not to release a statement as originally planned, but several days later, he published his poetic video confession to social media. The video featured an introduction from Tony Nolan, announcing that he was serving as a mentor to Jennings and asking viewers to pray for the evangelist.

Now, the confessional video statement featuring Nolan has been deleted from Jennings’ social media pages, and Nolan has advised that Jennings ended the restoration process with him in deciding that it was unnecessary.

“Jesus didn’t die for us to sin and then thank Him for grace. We thank Him for grace by our defiance of sin!” Nolan posted to Twitter days after the announcement, although not indicating whether the specific comment was in reference to Jennings or not.

He also posted a photo to Instagram on Saturday that reads, “Those who play the grace card end up falling on their face hard,” and shared from Romans 6:1-2, “Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of His wonderful grace? Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it?”

Nolan’s office declined additional comment on the matter, but pointed to his Twitter and Instagram pages for insight on “his stance concerning the Jennings situation.”

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Emmanuel

These pharisees make me laugh. A process and a journey…. Are you kidding me? That dude just needs to go to God and only God. These gurus/mentors are a joke. Modern day godless Christian leaders and their titles.

Sam Langford

Amen. Its like in the days when Jesus walked the Earth.. All the Pharisees demand you jump thru all the hoops. and dance to their tune.. then you can become sinless as a dove… if only you will do this or that..

Charles

Right? What better council can you have than God? Your mentor should the The Lord. Not man.. Thing is.. It requires relationship with God.. Obviously, he’s lacking a relationship with the Lord which is why he did it multiple times without seeing his error.

Emmanuel

Exactly, right on point. Charles, you the man.

Royce E. Van Blaricome

Thanks for showing yourself to be a false prophet. Looks like you’ve got a following of at least two.

Emmanuel

please explain

Royce E. Van Blaricome

You just spoke falsely for God. Ergo, “false prophet”. God’s Word says the opposite of what you said.

Emmanuel

give me the scripture

Royce E. Van Blaricome

First tell me who I’m giving my pearls to. Do you really wanna know God’s Word and do His will? Or just argue? Or twist it for Satan’s purposes? So you can laugh some more and call me a Pharisee too? What do you want Scripture for?

I would think anyone who truly desires to know God’s Word and do His will would do a simple Google search and see what pops up. There are actually several passages that speak to the opposite of what you said.

Emmanuel

Let me be very clear here, I am not a pharisee and I don’t work for satan. I know the bible well, read it all the time, I teach the bible and I follow the bible as close as I can, I’m not perfect, that’s why I depend on grace. I don’t follow a religion and I’m not legalistic.
I know the scriptures and I know what I am talking about. I have taken the stand that “Don’t confuse kindness for weakness” as a christian that defends the word of God. I will not allow myself to pushed around like most Christians. I will turn the other cheek but my left hook is following. Especially, if I am discussing scriptures with a fellow brother or sister. Am i right? probably not but as a christian, I will not let anyone push us around like in the past.
So, if I am wrong, please educate me. I am open to learn more about the bible.

Royce E. Van Blaricome

Well then, you should know the answer to your question. Since you know it so well and read it all the time and follow it as close as can be, how is it that you can’t see something so obvious? Not only in your first post but even in this one!

But hey, you know the Scriptures and you know what you’re talking about.

So all I’ll say is this. First, one simple passage that shows you don’t is Gal. 6:1. Might do a little study into what “restore” means there. One might also ask if James 5:16 was written with the intent in mind that there would be no follow up and holding one another accountable but, hey, evidently not since you know Scripture so well and didn’t see that. Though I’m not quite sure if that’s true why God would see fit to add the last part of the previous verse.

Second, you’re going to be in for quite a surprise when you stand before Christ and have to explain how you know better than He does as to who is a “godless Christian leader”. (Which is an obvious oxymoron in itself.) Claiming to know something that only God could know if exercising a faux omniscience and God doesn’t take kindly to one pretending to be Him or having His attributes.

Third, if what you said is not true then you’ve born false witness and made a false accusation against not only a Brother in Christ but a “Leader”. Since you know your Bible so well it must’ve obviously completely slipped your mind as to how God feels about those who tear down His “leaders”. Perhaps a little reading about the Rebellion of Korah would help you there. Not to mention Matt. 5 before you head out on Sunday, this Christmas, to offer your sacrifices of praise and worship. And let’s not forget John 4:24.

Fourth, you say you don’t follow a religion as if there is something wrong with that. Christ certainly did. Not only did He do so but He did it perfectly and then He perfected it with His own sacraments.

I’d like to give you something to consider. How do you think God feels about people who profess to be one of His Children and followers of Jesus Christ who disrespect, demean, belittle, and even bad-mouth something He instituted and calls Good? What does God’s Word say about those who call Good evil and Evil good?

You would do well to consider that when making comments about “Religion”. Jesus is God and God established and instituted religion. And He did so perfectly with infinitesimal, minute, and meticulous detail. Jesus followed that religion perfectly and then perfected it with His own sacraments and teachings. What do you think Jesus was doing all those times He went to the Temple and the night He was betrayed at the “Last Supper”?

One can have empty religion without a relationship with Christ but you can NOT have a relationship with Christ without His religion. John 14:15 and 15:14 (just to name a couple). For more good teaching on the subject, I’d encourage you to read “Christianity Is Not a Religion – It’s a Relationship” from GTY’s blog series entitled “Christian Clichés”. You may find the others edifying as well.

As to the rest of your blather, you say you know the Scriptures and you know what you’re talking about? Well, I say I don’t think so. You just keep working on that left hook. We’ll see how that works for you in following Christ.

Emmanuel

Let me start with the leaders. They are held to a higher standard and you know this. We are to hold them to it. 1 Corinthians 5:12 is very clear about that. We can do what we need to do for the believers. Yes, some require meekness, loving hand, prayer and some require some tough love. as for Jesus, how did you treat Peter? how did he treat the pharisees? was he kind? was he loving? was he soft spoken? was he verbally appropriate? Again, hold leaders to a higher standard. A calling and ministry is a huge responsibility and we need to keep those in check and held to the standard even if we to call them out on it.
God did establish a covenant with the people of Israel. It was to teach them how to live a holy and clean life. Then Jesus came, lived through that covenant and did the awesome work that he did for us. Jesus recreated/reestablished a new covenant. A new way of living holy and right; himself. He also gave us Act 2 and many other wonder gifts and fruits to live by but it was still him. So, we don’t need man-made rules/ do’s and don’ts when we have Christ. Do we need to go to church and receive? yes. Do we need to do what John 4:24 says? every day and twice on Sunday.
Just to summarize, a person in leadership and that has a calling needs to be held to the standard set by the Bible. And when they slip, we, the fellow brothers and sister, have an obligation to address it however possible to restore that person and the church.

Royce E. Van Blaricome

Well, I see all that I wrote went right over your head. You didn’t take a single morsel of that on board. No real surprise. Instead you decided to come back with a bunch of mumbo-jumbo that didn’t address your sin whatsoever. And moreover, you still never gave a single reference to Scripture to substantiate your speaking falsely for God.

And btw, you obviously didn’t notice but you contradicted yourself too. First you say “So, we don’t need man-made rules/ do’s and don’ts when we have Christ” and then you say, “And when they slip, we, the fellow brothers and sister, have an obligation to address it however possible to restore that person and the church.”

So now you will take up no more of my time. I’ll leave you to God to explain your laughing at His Children and let you explain to Christ how His leaders are a joke and a bunch of “godless Christian leaders”. Another contradiction itself.

Buh bye.

Emmanuel

Royce, have a blessed weekend and I hope you and yours have a great Christmas.

Royce E. Van Blaricome

And to you as well.

TheBottomline4This

Another story of an unbeliever masquerading as a “Christian”.

Debra Parnell Reed

Another story of a sinner just like us.

Royce E. Van Blaricome

No, Debra. I wouldn’t go so far as to definitively state as Bottomline did that Clayton is an Unbeliever but he most certainly leaves much room to doubt whether he has ever really been saved. One sure sign I’ve seen time after time after time of the difference between a true Christian and a Poser is how they react to being held accountable. Christians are heart-broken over their sin. They are contrite in spirit, humble, and eager to be restored to fellowship. Posers are angry they’ve been caught, lash out at those who confront their sin, refuse to be held accountable and say such things as, “I don’t need anyone but God to forgive me!”

Clayton is NOT a “sinner just like us”. Clayton stepped into a ministerial role. He obtained a following. He was a “shepherd” and he has led MANY of his disciples astray. Moreover, he used his position to actually prey on sheep. THAT is NOT “just like the rest of us”. And if you knew the Word of God you would know well what God has to say about those in positions of leadership who are wolves. Not every Christian is held to the same standard. Leaders ARE held to a higher standard. So no, Clayton is NOT just like the rest of us. That is if the “us” you speak of is referring to Christians. If you’re putting yourself in the category of a Sinner instead of a Saint, well, then that might be a different story altogether.

Royce E. Van Blaricome

Wahl, surprise surprise surprise. Who wudda thunk?!

On a side note, Heather thanks for being part of the godless who are bent on destruction as the Bible I read tells me that Jesus is Light and when Light shines on something it sanitizes it. So much for the father’s counsel. Looks to me like the apple didn’t fall far from the tree.

Nidalap

Ick…
Politician speak…

Debra Parnell Reed

If we judge, be careful to do it in humility and not hypocritically, realizing that anyone can fall from grace.

Pottendorf

“Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell; And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven”

Those church who do not magnify Jesus Christ in their creeds, their preaching, their fellowship but rather uplift the law, the leaders and the public correctness are tormented by the sins around just a lot like LOT. (2 Peter 2:7)

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